For some reason even in a hot market some salespeople feel compelled to make up fake buyers. You might remember the fake sisters posing as buyers for a news story.

Well a North Van Realtor has been found guilty of professional misconduct after a competing offer was presented from a buyer who doesn’t exist.

According to the disciplinary panel’s written reasons, Inglis testified at the hearing that the offer from a buyer with a last name of “Huang” had been left on the kitchen counter on the property –along with a real estate agent’s business card – at an open house, after he’d given a pre-printed offer form to an “Asian person” who asked for it. He told the council he’d altered the form to delete his own name as the buyer’s agent, and added the real estate agent’s name whose card had been left with the offer.

But that real estate agent told the panel he hadn’t been involved in writing the offer and had not had a client named Huang. The discipline committee also noted Inglis gave a contradictory version of how he’d received the offer in a message he left for his co-listing agent, saying he’d been handed the offer in person. A handwriting expert called to testify said it was “probable” Inglis wrote the offer himself.

The committee concluded Inglis had changed or made up the offer to create the impression that his story about receiving offers on the property was true, then made “false statements” to both his co-listing agent and the real estate council about it.

When Inglis found out about the investigation, he called the co-listing agent and left her a phone message, according to the panel’s written reasons, saying, “So if you really want to get blackballed you’ve gone to the right person because trust me I wield a bigger bat than you do.” The message continued: “So you’re off my books as far as ever doing a deal. I will never, ever, ever process one of your offers ever. So you’re done.”

Someone sold their condo to a Realtor who turned around and sold it for $288k more a few months later. A lawsuit followed:

She sold the unit on West 12th Avenue near Manitoba Street for $1.2 million to Stefan Morissette and Christina McPherson in October of 2015.

Gordon sued them and Faith Wilson Realty after learning the condo was re-sold approximately four months later for $288,000 more than what she was paid for it.

In a summary decision, the Justice G.C. Weatherill has determined the retired accountant didn’t suffer a loss when she agreed to sell the condo — for fair market value — to the buyers who placed the highest bid, even though she was hoping to get at least $1.3 million.